Editorial: Barfield Building awaits new date

It’s good to stipulate up front that no one should strive for failure when success is still possible.

The question now facing the owner of a historic — but increasingly dilapidated — downtown Amarillo building is this: Has any chance of success fled way beyond your reach?

Todd Harmon owns the Barfield Building. Under an agreement reached in late July in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court ruling, he has until Oct. 1 to come up with $380,000 on a defaulted debt involving the building. If he fails to pay the debt, the structure is likely to change hands. The new owners would be LT Barfield, a consortium of five Amarillo business executives seeking to finance the renovation of the historic structure at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Polk Street.

Harmon’s adventure with the Barfield Building has taken many twists and turns and hit more than a few bumps and holes along the way.

It’s time for this project to move forward and it likely will have to happen without the current building ownership.

The ground floor and many other floors in the 10-story building have been gutted. Then the owner ran out of money. He slapped plywood barricades around the ground floor about eight years ago. Nothing has happened since.

The Barfield is one of several old structures being considered for renovation. The historic Fisk Building already has been reborn as a Courtyard by Marriott hotel; the long-abandoned Herring Hotel also is beginning to show signs of life as a developer has presented plans to re-create some downtown magic there.

The Barfield nearly was purchased in an auction. Then Harmon filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy papers at the last minute, depriving LT Barfield of the chance — at least temporarily — to move the renovation forward.

Metro Tower, the company Harmon owns, has given it the old college try. He hasn’t made the grade. What’s more, the longer it fails to move forward, the less likely it seems it’ll ever get done.

In the interest of downtown’s promising future, the best outcome likely rests with the Barfield’s current owner throwing in the towel.

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This is an inside deal for Joe Bob McCartt who, along with Kathy Cornett (on the WT Foundation), who have secret information that let's them lock Harmon out. This is about the dirtiest deal I've seen in Amarillo since Les foisted Melisaa Dailey and DAI on us.

For years I've heard this guy throw around conspiracy theories about why he can't get this thing developed, at first I might have believed him but I don't anymore. I think it will be a good thing for the new owners to take possession of this historic building, Amarillo's first skyscraper, restore it and bring it back to life. I am sorry Mr. Harmon, you've had your chance and can't get it done, please let someone else give it a shot.

I don't know what to think about this. On the one hand, Harmon hasn't paid his loan payments and tax bill. He left himself open to having the loan purchased by anyone, and then having the debt purchaser foreclose on him.

On the other hand, this is more of the same stuff we have seen all along. Mayor McCartt used taxpayer money to fund all sorts of projects downtown that conveniently and coincidentally raised the values of her husband's properties. So, when something like this occurs, the McCartts have lost any benefit of the doubt with me.

It's a shame that Harmon began this project when he did. Whoever owns this building will make a mint with its location in relation to the asinine downtown revitalization. If Harmon had begun a few years later, he would have been able to stay in business long enough to make the money. Now it looks like McCartt will be the one to benefit from the downtown revitalization begun by his wife when she was mayor.

When someone asks you particular information, you refuse to answer and/or try to explain it away with your wit. Guess everyone now knows you can not back up what you say and when you are proved wrong, you ...

only mistake I see Harmon made after trying to fund it's work was he did not sell it. He has property valued at say a million and now McCartt wants to steal it for pennies on the dollar. But that is life in Amarillo if you are not "connected to" the right people.

I keep my ear to the ground and sometimes I find things out that way. Sometimes, information from reliable sources comes to me in a way that reporters would call off the record. I am not bound that way and if I come across information that I think is helpful for people who read these comments to know, I pass it on. Under those circumstances I am posting information on which I have direct knowledge but I won’t cite where I got it.

All the caterwauling by cwjjohn won’t change those facts. And all of cwjjohn’s caterwauling won’t get any more information from me than that which I post. If he/she/it doesn’t want to believe me, or if anyone doesn’t want to believe me, that’s fine. And that said, JDavidR’s post is spot on when combined with the info I posted.

Now, if someone could use little-bitty words to explain this all to cwjjohn, I’d appreciate it so I don’t split my sides laughing about his/hers/its posts again.

You remind me of the "little boy that cried wolf". You want attention and there is a good possibility of you making up stories and can not back up your supposedly truth or facts with proof. When you are proved wrong, you try and use your wit. I have yet to see you back up anything you write. You say "Confidential", "Off the record", you my friend need to get a new line. I will not waste my time anymore to ask for your proof, as there is none.

A confidential source told me that Origami dresses up as a woman and propositions unsuspecting men at the YMCA on Thursday afternoons. I prefer not to reveal my source but the sources who speak to me while my ear is to the ground are highly reliable. If he/she/it doesn’t want to believe me, or if anyone doesn’t want to believe me, that’s fine.

These aren't facts, they are rumors. If Origami had facts, he would provide them. Here are the little bitty words: "Lair, liar, pants on fire."